INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH

Introduction to Psychological Research

Introduction to Psychological Research

Question 1

(a) Financial Income and Depression

Family Support

Figure 1: The flowchart of model of financial income and depression

The Figure 1 which is based on the flowchart of model of financial income and depression reflects that family support and work pressure and work pressure can modify the impact that financial income has on depression. In fact this is known as the financial income buffering hypothesis.

Conversely, the model also shows that financial income is correlated with family support and work pressure (people with low financial income have less family support and work pressure) and family support and work pressure is correlated with depression (people lacking family support and work pressure tend to be more depressed). So the relationship between financial income and depression is confounded (at least according to our model): does financial income really have a direct effect on depression as it is shows in the model which indicates (financial income and depression) or is it that people with low financial income can become isolated and have less family support and work pressure and it is this lack of family support and work pressure that actually produces their depression?

Figure 2: Possible causal pathway: family support increase financial income which in turn leads to depression

Figure 2: Possible causal pathway - Work pressure decreases family support which in turn leads to depression.

It is also possible that financial income could have a direct effect on depression and an indirect effect via family support and work pressure that is both of the models depicted in Figures 1, 2 and 3 are partly true. Of course, the psychologists do not just idly speculate about their models, they check the literature to see which model is best supported by the existing data, or they conduct more research to test alternative models. For this study, it is expected to have a good understanding of what confounding is, and what a moderating variables are that are the work pressure and family support.

(b)

The variables that include work pressure and family support in the model, the low financial income should not cause people to be depressed. The depression is a disease that affects the body (brain), mood and thinking. It affects the way a person eats and sleeps. It affects how one assesses himself (self esteem) and the way you think. Depression is not the same as a passing blue mood. It does not indicate personal weakness; it is a condition which one can be released at will.

Despite all the social changes of recent times, the family remains the place to which individuals resort to meet our needs for physical safety and emotional health and wellbeing (Coolican, 2010). Often we (and even doctors who treat us) give little value to the role the family plays in the processes of disease. Recall some of the influences of family on depression:

The family is the main source of beliefs and behavior patterns related to depression

The tensions in the family, the effort to adapt to ...